Tax Software Comparison4/23/2021
Our single taxpayer, for example, was pushed up to the Deluxe edition for claiming deductions for student loan interest and IRA contributions.Youve gotten your W-2s and any other paperwork, such as a 1099 for your investment income, in the mail, and youre ready to sit down and do your taxes (which arent due until July 15 this year).Were here to help.
Tax Software Comparn Software Programs ForAs in previous years, we reviewed nine of the most popular online tax preparation software programs for 2019 returns, including TurboTax, HR Block, TaxAct and others, to help guide you to the right program. In addition to reviewing, we ranked them based on cost, ease of use, tax help and more. Our goal is to identify the online products that provide the best overall value. To help keep everything equal, we created two fictional tax returns using each product. The first return was for a single taxpayer with just W-2 income. The second return was for a married couple with a young child and a mortgage. For more information about our hypothetical taxpayers, scroll to Methodology slide at the end of this article). Just remember: Know thy tax situation, as it will determine the best program for you. Here are the rankings, from the online software that offers the least to the one providing the most bang for your buck. Note that, although some companies also offer CD products which may have different features, we only reviewed web-based software.) You Still Have Time to Save on Your Taxes All prices as of January 31, 2020. When we road-tested their products at the end of January 2020, all three editions were the same price45. However, we dont expect that pricing scheme to last until April 15. Those prices are pretty high considering that you dont get much in terms of additional features. Its a stripped-down product when compared to its competitors. For example, unlike some other tax prep software programs, you cant import information from a W-2 or 1099 form. Likewise, we were never asked if we wanted to import information from a prior-year return when starting returns for our hypothetical taxpayers. Liberty Tax does offer audit assistance and ID theft restoration services, but that costs an extra 30. Although the software was generally easy to use, navigation options were minimal. At the end of our test run, we were advised to double check our return because we might qualify for job search or moving expense deductions. However, these deductions were eliminated or restricted to military personnel by the 2017 tax reform law. Unlike some other programs we tested, you cant get advice from a tax professional, either. So, if you dont have a good feel for the tax code, maybe Liberty Tax isnt the software for you. However, if your return is even slightly more complicated, youll be bumped up to the Deluxe edition (25 for one federal return).
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